Rally Office Hours:
January 15, 2026

Summary

Product Announcement

The Scope Change for Work Items widget is now available. This new widget tracks changes in work items—specifically user stories, defects, defect suites, and test sets—within a time box, such as an iteration or release. Users can drill down into the details for any given day to see which items were added or removed. The widget is available in custom views, and users may need to refresh their custom views area in Rally to see it.

The widget tracks the "churn" of a time box, showing items added or removed after the beginning of a sprint. The line graph on the widget shows the net total of added or removed items for a day and cumulatively over the sprint.

Q&A

The Q&A session covered several topics related to Rally features:

• App Catalog and Custom Views: Tony asked about replacing the app catalog with custom views. The response confirmed that a widget catalog is already available, but only subscription admins can see it. Christie noted that the current set of widgets is limited and cannot yet accommodate all conversions from legacy custom pages. Rally is working to release more widgets in the next quarter (two to three months) and develop tools to help with the conversion process. Customers were encouraged to submit feedback on which apps in the legacy catalog are most critical to help guide development.
• Capacity Forecasting at the Art Level: Alexis and Tony inquired about aggregating the capacity forecast (which uses Monte Carlo analysis) across multiple teams or an ART (Agile Release Train). The tool is currently focused on a single team and relies on data accepted at the team level. Attempting to run it at a higher ART level often results in "not enough data" because stories are rarely accepted at that level. The feature is currently not available for a roll-up ART level.
• Monte Carlo Analysis/Capacity Forecast Interpretation:
  • Deselecting Data: Days with unusual data, like an extremely high number from a data import or a low number from an event like a pandemic, may be deselected to avoid skewing the Monte Carlo simulations.
  • Color Shades on Histogram: The intensity of the color on the histogram represents the magnitude of the number, with higher numbers appearing more intense.
  • Alternating High/Low Data: An alternating pattern of high and low accepted work numbers, particularly in a two-week sprint, suggests that the team is accepting most of its work right at the end of the iteration, which is not considered a healthy practice.
  • Bell Curve Shading: The lighter shading on the bell curve (or area chart) represents the Monte Carlo simulations that fall more toward the extremes (less likely outcomes), while the darker area represents the range that is more likely to occur.
• Team Availability for Capacity Planning: A user asked if they could adjust the Team Availability percentage on the capacity forecast page (for a stable team) to account for new team members. While there was no definitive answer for the tool itself, the suggestion was made to handle this manually on a spreadsheet by ramping up the new person's contribution (e.g., half factor for the first few sprints) to account for ramp-up time.
• Iteration Status Page: Rally has no current plans to deprecate the iteration status page due to continued usage, although the team board has higher usage.
• Cross-Team Dependency Widget: Tony requested the ability to add custom fields to the Cross-Team Dependency Summary list to allow for real-time updates and input (such as dates, descriptions, or a "blocked" indicator) during dependency meetings. This functionality is currently missing, but the list itself can be filtered by time box. The short stretch option can be used to fit more widgets. The dependency conversation was planned to be the main topic for the following week's office hours.
• Rally Widget Repository: The endorsed widgets will soon be announced and will appear in the widget catalog. The widget repository is a place to get the source code for these endorsed widgets, allowing users to disable them, download the code, modify it, and add it back as a subscription widget.

Event News

• Design Partners for Value Ops Insights: Rally is looking for design partners to help build the Value Ops Insights product, which focuses on looking at data within Rally. Interested parties can email Rusty or Shim.
• Roadmap and Bright Talk: The 2026 Q4 Roadmap is available on Bright Talk. A new roadmap is expected in mid-to-late February. The recording of "Bridging the Gap: How Product Ops Connects Strategy and Execution" is also available on Bright Talk.
• Rally Big Room Planning: The next Big Room Planning events are scheduled for February 2–5, 2026, in Broomfield, Colorado, and May 4–7. The event offers an opportunity to see how Rally is built, observe planning processes, and provide customer input. Attendees can nominate themselves using the provided QR code.

Note: This summary was generated with the assistance of an artificial intelligence language model. While we strive for accuracy and quality, please note that the summary may not be entirely error-free. We recommend independently verifying the content and consulting with a product expert for specific advice or information. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the use or interpretation of this content.

Ready to join the next Rally Office Hours session? Click the button below to sign up now!